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CU System

CUs Have Members' Trust, Need To Boost Advisory Services

WAXHAW, N.C. (9/30/13)--Credit union members trust their credit unions more than any financial services provider, but members are less inclined to use a credit union financial adviser, according to a new study from Kehrer Saltzman & Associates.

That discrepancy provides an opportunity for credit unions to increase members' awareness of their services and capture more of their members' assets, according to a principal at Kehrer Saltzman (Investment Consultant Sept. 27).

More than three in five (61.8%) survey respondents said they view their credit unions with a great deal of trust, whereas 27% held that view toward banks and a 4.7% toward full-service stock brokerage firms.

The study found that only 12% of credit unions provide investment services to members. That may explain why just 18% of members surveyed ranked their credit union advisers as their most trusted source of financial advice.

Credit union members are three times as likely to go to an independent financial consultant for advice than they are a credit union financial adviser. Also, they are more than twice as likely to approach a stockbroker for advice, regardless of the low level of trust they hold toward stock brokerage firms.

About 6.9% of respondents look to their credit union advisers for financial advice, while early one in four (22.6%) go to independent financial consultants and 13.3% go to stockbrokers, according to the findings.

Many credit unions that do have investment services do not promote it to their members, who remain unaware that they can get quality investment advice at their credit union, said Kenneth Kehrer, a co-author of the study and a principal of Kehrer Saltzman.

The overall lack of investment services helps explain the discrepancy between members' great trust in their credit union and less trust in the advisers that work there, Kehrer said.

Credit unions have an "incredible" opportunity to better serve their members who would prefer to invest where they bank, Kehrer added.